The ancient Greeks had several
different theories with regard to the origin of the world, but the generally
accepted notion was that before this world came into existence, there was in
its place a confused mass of shapeless elements called Chaos. These elements
becoming at length consolidated (by what means does not appear), resolved
themselves into two widely different substances, the lighter portion of which,
soaring on high, formed the sky or firmament, and constituted itself into a
vast, overarching vault, which protected the firm and solid mass beneath.

Thus came into being the two
first great primeval deities of the Greeks, Uranus and Ge or Gaea.

Uranus, the more refined deity,
represented the light and air of heaven, possessing the distinguishing
qualities of light, heat, purity, and omnipresence, whilst Gaea, the firm,
flat,[1] life-sustaining earth, was worshipped as the great all-nourishing
mother. Her many titles refer to her more or less in this character, and she
appears to have been universally revered among the Greeks, there being scarcely
a city in Greece which did not contain a temple erected in her honour; indeed
Gaea was held in such veneration that her name was always invoked whenever the
gods took a solemn oath, made an emphatic declaration, or implored assistance.

[1] The early Greeks supposed
the earth to be a flat circle, in the centre of which was Greece. Oceanus, the
ocean stream, encircled it; the Mediterranean being supposed to flow into this
river on the one side, and the Euxine, or Black Sea, on the other.